1. Look at ‘Havisham’ and 3 other poems
Look at ‘Havisham’ and 3 other poems. Compare how the poets treat the theme of revenge.

2. In your introduction you need to name all four poems and relate them to the question.
Now write your introduction, beginning with this sentence:
‘Havisham’, a poem about a woman who has been jilted at the altar, is a description of a woman’s anguish and hatred for her fiancée, which leads to her considering specific acts of revenge. ‘The Laboratory’, however, depicts a woman who, having been rejected by her lover, actually acts upon her hateful and bitter thoughts and goes on to kill her ex lover’s new mistress.

3. Similarly, ‘My Last Duchess’ is unlike ‘Havisham’ for the narrator also acts on his anger and kills his wife for revenge. The poem ‘Kid’ could be seen as more similar to ‘Havisham’ as Robin also has revengeful thoughts about Batman being sad and alone, and the action that he takes is nowhere near as violent as in ‘The Laboratory’ and ‘My Last Duchess’. His revenge is more emotional than physical.

4. Now you need to write your second paragraph
Now you need to write your second paragraph. Focus on ‘Havisham’ and ‘The Laboratory’, discussing how the poet’s use of emotive language conveys confused feelings of love, hurt and anger and how this leads to thoughts of revenge.
Make sure you use an example from the text and analyse. P E

5. When you bring in another poem, use a compare/contrast sentence opening such as:
This is similar to…
We also see this in Browning’s poem...
Talk about how ‘The Laboratory’ uses similar violent language, making sure you use examples for comparison.

6. The opening line of ‘Havisham’, ’Beloved sweetheart bastard’ is a very powerful oxymoron, which highlights how she hates him but she is still in love with him. This is similar to ‘Kid’ because although Robin hates Batman, the way that he still thinks about him, and thinks about getting back at him, shows that deep down he really still cares for him. The violent and emotive language in ‘The Laboratory’ is very similar to the language in ‘Havisham’. In the ‘The Laboratory’ violent verbs such as ‘mash, burn, bite’, and the use of assonance in the poem, emphasise the anger of the narrator and how she has her mind set on one thing.

7. Now move on to considering how the desire for revenge affects the women, focusing on their similar loss of femininity. Remember to use phrases which introduce textual references and back up your points:
This is highlighted by the phrase…
The poet emphasises this idea by using the repeated image of...

8. The line ‘Spinster. I stink and remember’ highlights her obsession, as it shows how thinking of her ex has taken over her femininity and dignity – she no longer thinks about her appearance as she knows no-one else will want her. This again could be compared to ‘The Laboratory’ because the woman’s mind becomes so filled with malice and revenge that she seems to lose her femininity. This is highlighted when she starts to imagine taking poison in delicate accessories such as an ‘earring’. Items which usually symbolise femininity become instruments of death.

9. The narrator is too bitter to dance with anyone else, and will only allow the old apothecary to kiss her, as she thinks it no longer matters. This is like ‘Havisham’, where the narrator’s feelings of isolation and worthlessness are highlighted in the one word sentence: ‘Spinster’, showing that this is now how she views herself. Duffy is commenting on a society that values women simply by their marital status.

10. You are now going to bring in ‘My Last Duchess’ and will find more points of contrast than comparison. Use sentences which introduce these differences:
Unlike ‘Havisham’, we see a different tone in the narrator’s language ...
In contrast...
However, in ‘My Last Duchess’...
Try to incorporate the quotations you use within your sentences. Focus on how the Duke’s language is cold and he shows far less emotion than we see in ‘Havisham’.

11. Unlike ‘Havisham’ which is a powerful and emotive poem, ‘My Last Duchess’ uses very cold and detached language. In this poem the narrator’s revenge is driven more by power and pride than by the upset and anguish of ‘Havisham’. The narrator displays disgust that ‘she ranked my gift of a nine-hundred year-old name with anybody’s gift’ which shows the Duke’s arrogant character.

12. The poem is very different from ‘Havisham’ in the way that the Duke shows no emotion at all towards the killing of his wife. The way he describes having her killed is cold and detached: ‘I gave commands then all smiles stopped together’. The line, ‘I call that piece a wonder’, shows how the Duke was only interested in having her as a wife to show off, and prefers her as a painting to being alive.

13. Now relate this back again to ‘Havisham’, showing that you can compare the two effectively.
Use the starting sentence,
This attitude to revenge contrasts starkly with ‘Havisham’, who...

14. This attitude to revenge contrasts starkly with ‘Havisham’ who speaks passionately and at times erotically about her lover and arguably would even have him as a ‘corpse’. Like the opening oxymoron, the image of wanting a corpse for a honeymoon highlights Havisham’s confusion. She still loves him and has sexual desires for him, yet at the same time she revengefully wishes he was dead.

15. Refer back to ‘My last Duchess’, linking with the other poem you have discussed in detail, ‘The Laboratory’.
Comment on how these poems are similar because of the lack of remorse for the revenge taken.

16. The way that the Duke freely tells of how he had his last wife killed, and the clear message he sends that he will do it again, is similar to the way the narrator of ‘The Laboratory’ shows no remorse about killing her lover’s mistress.
Both Browning’s narrators seem powerful and convinced of their right to revenge; the Duke because of his injured pride and that he chooses, ‘never to stoop’, the jilted lover because of the way her man was ‘ensnared’ and stolen away from her.

17. Finally, refer to your last poem – ‘Kid’ – starting by linking it with ‘My Last Duchess’ as this will follow on from your previous paragraph.
Discuss how the theme of power and revenge is addressed in ‘Kid’
Start with the sentence;
The sense of power and control in ‘My Last Duchess’ is reflected in ‘Kid’ because in this poem Robin takes his revenge by becoming stronger and revelling in the fact that Batman is now a nobody.

18. This is shown from the phrase ‘Big shot’; it highlights Robin’s jealousy and anger at living in Batman’s shadow. It also has an element of sarcasm because of the image we get of Batman at the end of the poem. Here the hero is reduced to a lonely man ‘stewing over chicken giblets’. The way that Robin uses clichés and phrases from his former life, ‘Holy-robin-redbreast...’ shows how he does still think about and care for Batman because he is throwing his words back at him.

19. Now link your points back to the essay title and the poem named in the question, ‘Havisham’.
Try to discuss the paradox of both love and hate that we see in these two poems.
Start with the sentence:
The paradox in the poem of Robin not wanting to live in Batman’s shadow but being upset about being ditched is like ‘Havisham’ because...

20. ...although she hates her ex and wants to take revenge on him, she still loves him. This is like Robin as he takes pleasure in thinking about Batman as a miserable and lonely old man. He tells us he has grown up and moved on, yet the immature way he lingers on his revenge and too earnestly assures us of his now being ‘The real boy wonder’, demonstrates that actually he is ironically still a ‘Kid’.

21. Finally, conclude your essay, bringing together all 4 poems and focusing clearly on the question again.
Begin with the sentence:
The way that Robin takes pleasure in thoughts of revenge is like ‘The Laboratory’...

22. The way that Robin takes pleasure in thoughts of revenge is like ‘The Laboratory’, in which the narrator gleefully looks forward to seeing her ex lover suffer and seeing his mistress die. Browning’s Duke, on the other hand, appears to take no pleasure in the revenge which he has so chillingly already exacted. His nineteenth century portrayal of a single minded dominant male is more like Dickens’ one dimensional Miss Havisham than her modern and passionate counterpart.